About This Site

My name is Graham and I'm from Canada. In 2010, I had double jaw surgery to correct my class-3 malocclusion (also know as a "severe underbite").

You can follow my day-by-day road to recovery on this blog. It took just over 90 days for my life to return to normal and the changes were well worth the trouble. If your bite has been bothering you for a while, I highly recommend this operation to correct it.

I just finished eating “lunch” here at work. Today, “lunch” consisted of 2 chocolate Ensure drinks, and I conveniently spilled them all down my shirt and onto my pants. Oh well, at least it doesn’t show up too much on my WHITE FREAKING SHIRT!!!

My new best friend is Chunky soup, preferably of the beef, steak or sirloin burger persuasion. I’ve been blending up a can at a time (with a bit of milk to remove any substance it may have once had). They’re delicious! Still not filling, but rather tasty.

People keep telling me they’re impressed with my positive attitude. I find that odd, since all I’ve done on this blog (and to people in real life) for the past 2 weeks is complain. That being said, I realize this is only temporary. By the time summer rolls around, I’ll be back to normal, and I get to enjoy my proper bite for the rest of my life (or at least until my teeth fall out). I think a lot of people would be a lot happier if they would accept the fact that their present situation is only temporary. Is school eating you up? Don’t worry, summer holidays are only a few weeks away. Is your current job destroying you? Chances are you won’t hold that same job for the rest of your life. Or even better yet, if you don’t like your job and you have the opportunity, quit. Go find something to do that makes you happy. It could change your life.

I’m beginning to feel quite rude. It’s difficult to go through a day without being able to engage in the common social niceties–things like “hello” and “how was your day?”

I also really miss hanging out with friends. Allow me to walk you through a typical day in my life right now:

Wake up after a few hours of sleep with a throbbing jaw

Take forever and a day to get ready for work (breakfast: smoothie, glass of juice, glass of water)

Deal with a headache at work all day (lunch: Ensure drinks)

Drive home, appreciating the sunshine every step of the way

Eat some blended Chunky soup and think about being full to try and trick my stomach into thinking it actually is, in fact, full (no matter how much liquid you consume, your body will not feel full)

Ignore calls from friends because I can’t talk

Listen to the voicemails they leave and wish I was all healed up

Eat some more soup because I’m hungry again

Play Batman and do awesome kickflips

Go to sleep with my cherished hotpack, which smells like cereal after being heated up in the microwave, thus reinforcing my hunger

It’s delightful, isn’t it?

Anyway, today I had my second appointment with my surgeon. While one of his assistants was removing my elastics, she slipped with the scissors and jabbed them right into my lip. Ouch. They taught me how to remove the elastics myself, so I can now take them off to eat and brush whenever I please. They also reduced the number of elastics from 4 down to just 2, so it is much easier to talk now. I actually had a 5-minute conversation with someone at work today. It was a beautiful thing.

I ran into my partner in crime at the doctor’s office as well. Remember the girl that had surgery the same day as I did? She only had her bottom jaw operated on, and she is looking much better than I am. She can talk quite clearly and it seemed like her swelling was almost all gone. She looked fit to be in public! That’s more than I can say for myself. My face is peeling, and I have a weird rash forming around my nose. I’m bringing sexy back.

“I’m just thankful I don’t have to get my Mom to bathe me!”

To my friend who said that to me, thank you. Just for the books, I do not require assistance while bathing, thank you very much!

To wrap this post up, I’d like to say thanks to everyone who is making plans to go out for dinner with me when I’m back to normal. I think I’m going to devote my entire income to eating out for a few months once that happens. Seriously. I also plan on having no less than 1 million barbecues with my neighbors upstairs.

And for those of you who feel bad whenever you’re cooking around me, don’t worry about it. I still enjoy the scent of good food. I can’t believe how many apologies I’ve received from others who are eating in my presence. I brought this on myself. Now don’t go feeling sorry for me.

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2 Comments

Hi, I’m only on my fourth day of recovery, and it’s going really well, except I can’t seem to handle the liquid diet! I puked up my gutslast night(luckily all I have are elastics and my jaw is already pretty movable so it didn’t hurt nearly as much as I thought it would), and today I feel much better, but I still can’t handle the thought of eating anymore soup. I’ve been living off of butter pecan ensure plus which is actually delicious, but I’d really appreciate suggestions on what to eat! Thank you!

Milly, finding variety in your diet during the first month of recovery is unfortunately very difficult. Ensure, fruit smoothies, and thin soups are the only things I found that provided enough flavor and calories to keep me going at first.

If you’re looking for a change, try blending some fruit smoothies and add peanut butter, honey, yogurt, and oatmeal to them for some extra taste. 🍌🍓🍯

“Over the past several years, I’ve done my best to respond to every comment on this blog, but unfortunately I no longer have the time to do so. If you have questions about jaw surgery and want to connect with others on this journey, please join the live chat group. Don't worry — it's free!”